


Changes and Memories

by zombie_bnvnd



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Birthday Presents, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Pictures, a little out of character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 16:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4144047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombie_bnvnd/pseuds/zombie_bnvnd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Change doesn't always have to be scary, especially if you choose to change along with someone you love, sometimes changes can be faced as opportunities to make new memories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes and Memories

**Author's Note:**

> It's Marco's birthday and I wanted to put something nice out for him, my baby deserves all the love. I hope you enjoy it.

No one's ever prepared for their life to change from one day to the other. Changes are hard and scary, and even when you do want it you're never really prepared. But however scary changes can be, sometimes accepting the change is all it takes for all your life to shift into place and make everything right.

June 16, the morning of my birthday. 

I open my eyes to an empty bed and immediately my senses are assaulted by the smell of coffee and bacon, the pillows beside me aren't warm anymore but still hold the fresh smell of Jean's shampoo and after shave, and that particular Jean-like scent that always lingers on the crook of his neck, the best thing I've ever had the pleasure to smell, I smile sleepy as I bury my face in one of the pillows, forgetting about the other smells lingering in the air and hug it close to my chest.

I hear the door open and lift my head to see Jean slide into the room, a loopsided smile on his face glasses on and all sorts of cowlicks decorating his blond hair. My smile widens as I sit up discreetly letting go of his pillow and watching him lean against the now closed door. "Good morning, birthday boy," He greats. "Hungry?"

"Good morning," I answer, rubbing my eye with the ball of my thumb, "Is it bacon I smell?" I say stretching my back. 

Jean laughs lightly pushing off the door, and comes closer to sit beside me on the bed. "I gess that's a yes then." He runs his fingers through my hair and pecks me on the forehead. "C'mon, get up and let's go have breakfast." 

I follow him happily smiling all the way to the kitchen. Jean indeed made bacon, and eggs and french toast and his delicious coffee (he's got some talent with coffee making), he even put a pink rose in a tall glass in the center of the table. I stroke the flower lightly as I pass by then hug him from behind and kiss the back of his neck. "This is lovely, Jean, thank you." I inhale trying to take in the scent on his neck. "But you smell even better than the bacon."

He laughs lightly and turns around in my embrace, hands resting splayed out over my chest, and looks at me lovingly. "It's all your fault Bodt, you turned me into a softie." I rest my forehead against his and tighten my arms around his waist, just as I lean in for a kiss my stomach decides to make the most obnoxious, embarrassing noise ever witnessed by humankind causing us both to burst into laughter. "You better feed it before it starts eating you from inside." He grins poking me on the stomach, I stick my tongue out at him than sit down to savor the breakfast my lovely boyfriend prepared for me. 

We eat in comfortable silence, only broken by Jean asking me about my night and if I was excited for my birthday. Watching him eat I notice he has dark circles under his eyes, it's weird since we went to sleep early last night and it's already past ten, _we had plenty of time to rest_. As if sensing my stare, Jean looks up at me with a satisfied smile on his face and takes the hand that isn't occupied with my coffee mug in his, "Are you ready for your surprise?" He asks, smile widening on his face.

"Jean, you... you didn't have-" I try to reply but he cuts me off quickly waving a hand at me nonchalantly.

"It's okay Marco, I didn't spend money in it. Well part of it did cost me some," I raise my eyebrows at him but he kisses my knuckles and continues, "But it's nothing for you to get upset about, okay? I'm not wasting unnecessary money I promise." He squeezes my hand before getting up. "You finish your coffee like a good boy and wait for me. Alright?" 

I pout at him and sink further on my chair. "You shouldn't have..." I complain. He just rolls his eyes at me and turns to leave throwing a 'be right back' over his shoulder.

I finish my cofee and manage to clear the dishes by the time Jean's back at our kitchen. "Hey, come here." he jerks his head back towards the doorway motioning me to follow, I accept his outstretched hand and lace our fingers together letting him guide me back to the bedroom door. "Okay, close your eyes." He instructs, I raise an skeptical eyebrow at him but oblige at last.

I hear Jean opening the door to our bedroom and fight the urge to peek inside, instead I let him guide me again and position me at what I imagine to be the center of the room. I squeeze his hand reassuringly as I feel it tremble in mine, he takes a deep breath and let go of my hand taking a few steps to my left. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." 

So I do.

The bed is now made and the floor is clear of its usual mess of discarded clothes the lights are on and above the bed there are several heart shaped balloons, a picture hanging from each one by a silver string. And then there's Jean, fidgeting and biting slightly at his bottom lip, a look of uncertainty lingering on his face, a vulnerability only detected by attentive eyes. "What are those?" I ask smiling at him.

He clears his throat and looks me in the eyes smiling a little, "So, uh... I saw something similar on the internet a couple weeks ago," he says eyeing the pictures and starting to blush, _he's so cute like that,_ I don't mention it though. "I though the idea was good and it seemed like something you'd like."

I shift to the bed and take one of the pictures in my fingers to look at it curiously, I feel Jean come to stand by my side his hand rubbing at the nape of his neck. "Those, uh..." he continues, "are memories," he points looking fondly at the photograph I have in my hands "This one is from when we went to the beach together. Do you remember?" I nod, "It rained the entire weekend. I was a grumpy asshole for the first few hours but not even Jean Kirischtein can keep a sore mood around you. That was, honestly, the best beach trip of my life." 

"I bet you had others that couldn't even compare." I tell him as I look at the both of us sitting cross leged on a bed, me smiling and Jean half on my lap and grinning at the camera he held out in front of us.

To this he answers in a graver voice, "Not really, it was only the best 'cause you were there with me, you know." He rests his arm around my waist and kisses me lightly on the shoulder.

I look back at him wide eyed and at a loss of words, the picture slipping out of my slack fingers. It's so rare for Jean to be this blunt about his feelings that it takes me by surprise sometimes, heat spreads over my cheeks at the knowledge that a failed attempt at a weekend spent on the beach is important for him just because of my presence, it makes my heart flutter and renders me holding back tears.

Seemingly noticing my shocked expression, Jean clears his throat and takes another photo in his hands, it's one of me sleeping on our bed, cheek squashed against the pillow and a trail of drool shining on the corner of my lips. I wrinkle my nose at it, "This is one of my favorites, I took it the first morning I woke up next to you after we moved in." He glances at me quickly averting his eyes again, "I know it sounds cheesy but..." 

"No, no. You're fine, I really appreciate everything you're doing, really, it's beautiful. Thank you love."

He blushes again and bumps his hip playfully against mine. "The best part is yet to come."

We go through several others photos, the majority of which feature me or the both of us, in various situations of our daily life, pictures I remember him taking over the last months we spent together in our new home,but there are some that an outsider could call failures; half a shoulder, a mop of dark hair, our hands resting entwined over Jean's thigh, our tangled legs, things that don't really need explaining but he explaines nonetheless. Every picture, every word out of Jean's lips bringing me closer to tears.

"Here, this one." He offers it to me. "This one is important." It's one of him standing alone under the Eiffel Tower with a rather forced smile on his face from when he traveled to visit his parents. Whe I first saw it and asked why he was in such a bad mood when he was _in Paris_ he would tell me his mom forced him to take a billion pictures and he was tired. Even looking far from happy he was beautiful. I remember missing him something fierce back then.

I take a sit on the edge of the bed as he continues, "I was really glad to see my mom again after almost a year, France was beautiful and all but I wasn't truly happy." He was looking intensely at the picture in my hands now, I take his hand in mine again and wait for him to finish. After a moment his grip tightens and he speaks again. "I missed you so much Marco... Every time I ended a Skype call with you I would feel empty, hollow. I... had never experienced something like that before, it was..." He he trails off and I turn my body to face him better and pull him to stand between my legs, resting my face on his stomach I try to get a little closer and circle my arm around his waist, tears now threatening to fall. "The happiest memory I have from that trip is finding your eyes again amongst the crowd of people in the airport." 

I can't hold back anymore, I let go of the photograph and wind both my arms around Jean's waist. "I'm sorry babe, I missed you too." Tears fall from my eyes and I squeeze him tighter. He pulls me away gently after a moment, wipes the tear treks from my cheeks reassuring me that it wasn't my fault and that he is okay now then he looks me in the eyes and resumes his speech.

"This memory is important to me because it was then that I realized just how much you mean to me and that I don't want to live a life without you. I sure can live without you but I my life would probably suck balls."

"Jean..." I try to speak again, I want to tell him just how happy he's making me right now but my voice cracks and fails me.

He takes my face between his hands, "The day I first woke up next to you in this very same bed, I saw you and I knew..." His voice is low and thick with the beginning of his own tears, I bite my lips and grab a hold of his hands keeping them pressed against my face waiting for him to finish. He takes a deep, shaky breath, his lips quivering minutely, "I knew that you, Marco, was the life I wanted for me."

I watch his Adam's apple bobing as he swallows, my heart hammering against my rib-cage as he kisses me lightly on the lips then retrieves his hands from my cheeks and gets down on one knee.

My hands clap over my mouth so fast I barely register the movement before the sting hits, tears now cascading from my wide eyes as my body shakes uncontrollably. _There's no way he's doing what I think he's doing._ He deeps his hand in his pocket and brings it back with a small black velvet box between his trembling fingers. Suddenly all the uncertainty and nervousness, all the worried glances and averted gazes make sense; what Jean had planned wasn't a simple birthday present, he had a bigger plan prepared. I don't dare interrupt him afraid of breaking the spell cast over us.

"Marco," he begins softly "You know I love you and I hope you do love me back." He laughs as I swat him on the arm. "I want to keep making new memories with you Marco, I want to have this" he motions between us, "for the rest of my life. You make me happy and there's nothing that could make me happier than to dedicate my life," He sniffles, beautiful eyes shining with emotion and swimming in tears that makes his voice wave, "my heart and soul to make it up to you." A tear falls from his eye, "Marco, will you give me the honor of letting me make you happy?" a sob, "Will you marry me?" He cries ou at last, opening the box with shaky fingers to reveal the delicate silver ring inside.

I kneel on the carpeted floor with him and throw my arms around his still shaking shoulders, "Of course I will Jean, I love you, I love you, I love you. Oh my God, I love you so much." 

He hugs me closer bringing our chests flush togetherand resting his forehead against mine. "God, I can't believe you said yes." He says letting out a nervous little laugh.

I narrow my eyes at him, "Were you expecting me to say no?"

"I don't even know what I was expecting, honestly." he tells me closing his eyes. "I was afraid I would mess everything up, or not be able to get a word out, I don't know. I was just scared that you'd refuse me or that I was rushing things up. I'm so goddamn happy though."

I kiss him slowly, reassuringly "I don't care if it's too fast, I love you! I would love to spend the rest of my life by your side Jean." 

"That's awesome, because I can't imagine my life without you anymore." The smile he gives me now is more relaxed and his eyes are bright when he looks into mine. "It's a big change though, it's the rest of our lives after all." 

"And I couldn't be happier about my future." I answer.

"'S good to know." We pull away after a moment and Jean takes the ring between his forefinger and thumb looking at me with raised eyebrows and a warm smile on his face. I offer him my hand, feeling my heart race again as he slides the silver band onto my ring finger. The ring is simple but it's gorgeous, it has beautiful patterns engraved on it and the silver color stands out beautifully against my skin. Another little box is offered to me then, I open it and take the matching ring out of it and slide it onto Jean's own finger, heart swelling with emotion.

"Hold up," He says getting up and hurries to his small desk at the corner of the room coming back with his camera in hand. He takes a picture of our entwined fingers, now adorned by our engagement rings. "The first of many memories."

I take the camera from him and put it carefully on the bed, then climb onto his lap and kiss him silly.

After some time of sharing kisses and combing fingers through hair and whispering 'I love you's, we're splayed on our backs on the floor and I ask him when did he prepare all this, _he barely spent ten minutes in the room earlier._ He tells me he woke up at four in the morning and did it all sitting in the bathtub and then hid it in the closet. _Well this explains the dark circles under his eyes._

"I didn't know you walked on your sleep." He turns to me suddenly.

"I do what?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"I was sitting in the bathtub and then you walk into the bathroom and I'm like 'this is it, this is how it ends'. Then you just walk right up to the toilet take a piss flush the toilet wash your hands and walk out, just like that."

We stare at each other for a moment and I reply, "Well, I didn't know I do it either." and we laugh again.

Change doesn't always have to be scary, especially if you choose to change along with someone you love, sometimes changes can be faced as opportunities to make new memories.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked it, though it's probably a mess cause I wrote it at two in the morning and I never edit shit so... *nervous sweating*  
> Anyway thanks for reading, constructive criticism is welcome.   
> You can find me on tumblr at http://zombieswere-peopletoo.tumblr.com


End file.
